Building a tornado shelter at home

[TexasStooge]

By MACIE JEPSON / WFAA ABC 8

The F3 tornado that flattened home after home in Collin County and killed three people also scared Taylor Scott.

When Taylor was young, a tornado threatened his home and his family.

"We literally had to run outside and get in the cellar. The doors rumbled when the winds picked up," he said.

Now he's a dad protecting his kids.

His garage is his family's safe haven.

A 3 x 6 foot hunk of cement and steel - once secured to the floor- will stop flying debris.

The shelter was tested at Texas Tech's wind research center. It can withstand an F5 tornado.

Twister Shelters are made in Texas and fit any new or existing home. Homebuilder Bill Donald designs them with guidelines from the National Storm Shelter Association.

There are other types of storm shelters on the market. Despite the strength of the structure, the door is one of the most important parts of the shelter. It needs to be able to be removed and unlocked from the inside.

Texas Tech does a lot of research on all of the different products. They can help you determine which products are the safest.

Taylor wants his home to be safe, really safe.

"A place to know we could duck out, hide out and know it would be here even if this place isn't," he added.

[Persepone]

This may be a totally stupid question, but why don't homes in the Midwest, in Texas, and other areas have cellars? At least "storm cellars"? I'm amazed to see all those slab houses in areas of the country known for tornadoes.

I guess I have the same question about homes in Florida. It seems to me that even a small shelter in the cellar is better than a slab...

By the way, wouldn't a small backyard shelter along the lines of an Anderson shelter (used in London in WWII) be effective? Admittedly you'd need to think about the door, but I'd think that type of structure would be better than staying in a house built on a slab.

[gwalls]

We can't have basements in our part of the country due to the high water tables. Lots of people have inground storm shelters, but you have to worry about them flooding and because the ground shifts so much here.(New Madrid Fault Line). Some have been known to pop out of the ground or break. We opted for a safe room in our garage. That way you don't have to run outside in the weather to get to it. Arkansas offers an incentive to build safe rooms and storm shelters. They will refund you up to $1000 as long as it meets FEMA requirements. I think everyone in this section of the country should definitely consider something like this. Too bad more homebuilders don't install them in all homes. Plus I think they should up the building codes requiring them to bolt walls to the foundation and installing hurricane brackets on all roofing joists.